Feed mechanism for repeating firearms



Feb. 3, 1942. F. s. WILCOX FEED MECHANISM FOR REPEATING FIREARMS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 1, 1940 3 Y xm i Ex 8% mm .m

INVENTOR FREDEQIC 5. WILCOX BY W & W

ATT RNEYS Feb. 3, 1942. F. s. wlLcox FEED MECHANISM FOR REPEATING FIREARMS Filed July 1, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TO R FREDER'C 5. WILCOX IJ ll ATTORNEYS Feb. 3, 1942. F. s. WILCOX FEED MECHANISM FOR REPEATING FiREARMS Filed July 1, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR mzoemc s. WILCOX ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 3, i942 FEED MECHANISM FOR REPEATIN G FIREARMS Frederic S. Wilcox, Springfield, Mass., assignor to Savage Arms Corporation, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of Delaware Application July 1,1940, Serial No. 343,403

9 Claims.

This invention relates to firearms and more particularly to the feed mechanism thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a feed mechanism for such firearms, which mechanism is of new, improved, durable and efficient form, and particularly is so constructed and has its parts so coordinated that the feed mechanism will be free of double-loading, and of the jamming or stoppage of the mechanism in this type of gun that results from double-loading.

A further purpose is to provide in a manually operated repeating gun or in a semi-automatic repeating rifle of the blow-back type, or in any type of semi-automatic or manually operated gun where the cartridge is raised from the rear end of a tubular magazine to the level of the barrel chamber during the rearward movement of the breech bolt, a feeding mechanism which will operate effectively when the gun is intended to 'be operated as a semi-automatic gun, but a weak or defective cartridge interrupts the rearward movement of the breech bolt, and which also will allow not only a hand operation of the feeding mechanism for the original or first firing operation but for hand operation of the feeding mechanism thereafter when required, if desired.

In a certain type of firearm of this general description the power of the explosion from a firing of the cartridge blOWs back or moves rearwardly the breech bolt which carries with it and ejects the empty shell of the last preceding fired cartridge and compresses the hammer spring and the breech bolt spring, the energy of which compressed breech bolt spring acts to move the breech bolt forward and to carry with it a new cartridge, and to push the new cartridge into the chamber of the barrel.

In the construction to which I refer and of which the drawings herein show a representation of one form, the magazine is of the tubular form and cartridges are taken from its rear end up through a magazine box and into the chamber of the receiver to the rear of the chamber in the barrel by a lifter, here shown as a swingingly mounted lifter or an equivalent lifter or carrier, the forward end of which normally blocks the rearward passage of cartridges from the tubular magazine until the right time, whereupon a cartridge under the tension of the conventional tubular magazine spring is allowed to pass onto the lifting face of said swinging lifter, after which the positive upward movement of the front end of said swinging lifter imparted by the rearward movement of the breech bolt and during a part of such rearward movement lifts the cartridge partway up through said magazine box and past a cartridge stop spring or corresponding movable stop means.

As the breech bolt continues to its rearward position, a spring tension operating upwardly on the lifter raises the cartridge ultimately in normal operation to a point in front of the lower part of the breech bolt, so that on forward movement of the breech bolt the lower part of the front of the breech bolt will engage the upper portion of the rearward end of the new cartridge and project it forward into the chamber of the barrel, the lifter meanwhile, under the tension of its said spring, giving an upward movement to the rear end of the cartrid e so that it may be entirely disengaged from the cartridge box on the latter part of the movement of the breech bolt. Semi-automatic guns of this type are in the main simple in construction and assemblage, effective and satisfactory in operation and durable in use, but after considerable use of said type of semi-automatic guns it was found that they had a troublesome defect, in that if the shooter when operating the gun manually, as when making the first rearward movement of the breech bolt in preparation for automatic operation, or at any rearward motion of the breech bolt when operating the gun as a hand operated repeating rifle, or incase of an incomplete rearward movement due to a weak or defective cartridge when the gun was intended to be operating automatically, if, I say, under these circumstances the breech bolt fails to move to the rear far enough to allow the cartridge on the spring-tensioned lifter to be moved up in front the breech bolt carries the breech bolt over the insufliciently raised cartridge and fails to complete the loading of that cartridge into the chamber of the barrel.

On the other hand, the moving forward of the breech bolt towards its closed position operates to depress the forward end of the lifter, which has been properly functioning as a stop against rearward movement of the rearward cartridge in the tubular magazine, and such depression of the front end of the lifter operates in its usual way to allow rearward movement of the rearward cartridge from the magazine to come over and on top of the lifter. Thereupon it is obvious that two cartridges will be in the magalzjgilrta box above the lifter and below the breech This double-loading is very troublesome in this type of feed mechanism and really causes a Jam, because the feeding mechanism is blocked and neither one of the cartridges can in due course or by ordinary operation be eliminated, and the shooter has to stop and unload the whole supply of cartridges from the tubular magazine and manipulate the loading mechanism to let the lower cartridge in the magazine box go downwardly and forwardly into the tubular magazine. At that stage even the first cartridge may be removed in the same way, that is downwardly and forwardly into the tubular magazine or, with only one cartridge left in the magazine box preferably the breech bolt can be moved backwardly far enough to remove it from over the cartridge and far enough to let the said cartridge'be moved up to position in front of the breech bolt, whereupon a normal forward movement of the breech bolt will effect a forward normal move of the cartridge into the chamber of the barrel. It will thus be seen that a weak or defective cartridge,

or a slight neglect on the part of the shooter to make the complete, or at least a sufflcient rearward movement of the breech bolt. before he moves the breech bolt forward or allows it to go forward will result, without warning, in a double loading that causes a jam.

The main purpose of this present invention is to provide a feed mechanism of the general type above mentioned, but which is so constructed, that it prevents such double-loading and the resulting jam," and furthermore to have the construction which thus prevents the doubleloading and jam of such character that it adds very little, if any, to the cost of the feed mechanism, and does not detract from the general merits of the feeding mechanism or add to its complexity in operation, mounting or repair.

A further and more particular purpose of this invention in its preferred form is to provide a feed mechanism of the general type above mentioned, having in its magazine box leading from the rear of the tubular magazine up to the chamber in th receiver a laterally widened passage at the rear to allow for the upward move-' ment therethrough of the flanges upon the rear of the cartridges, but with said widened passage extending only a short distance forwardly from the rearward end of said magazine box except near the top of the magazine box, and to provide in said feed mechanism an emergency cartridge stop step on the bottom of the breech bolt, which stop step projects slightly downwardly a little way back from the front of the breech bolt and there projects forwardly so that, if an incomplete rearward movement of the breech bolt has raised a cartridge from the lower level of the magazine box past the stop spring or movable stop means but has failed to let the cartridge rise above the bottom level of the breech bolt the forward movement of th breech bolt will bring the said forwardly facing step on the breech bolt into engagement with the flange on the upper part of the cartridge and, because the cartridge is kept from longitudinal movement by the short lengthwise extent of the wide passage at the rear of the magazine box, at the level where the cartridge is held (downwardly) by the breech bolt the cartridge will arrest the forward movement of the breech bolt before the breech bolt has moved far enough forward to swing the lifter downwardly out of position to stop the cartridge from coming back from the tubular magazine,

and incidentally will give the shooter warning that a cartridge isbelow the breech bolt. I

The effectiveness of this remedy lies in the fact that thereupon the shooter can at once move the breech bolt rearwardly and cause the cartridge to rise to its proper levelwhere it can be moved into the barrel chamber in a normal way by the forward motion of the breech bolt.

Further purposes and advantages of this invention will appear from the specification and claims herein.

Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the action portion and the rear end of the barrel and of the tubular magazine of a blow-back type of semi-automatic rifle embodying this invention, the parts being in the positions they occupy immediately before firing.

Fig. 2 is a view of the parts shown in Fig. 1 but with the parts in the position they occupy when the "hammer and breech bolt have been driven back as by the firing of the gun and with the hammer and breech bolt still in rearward position, the barrel, receiver and tubular magazine and the lower forward part of the breech bolt and the housing for the trigger and release mechanism being in central longitudinal vertical section, but with the rest of the breech bolt in right side elevation as also are the hammer, the feed mechanism lifter and the trigger and release mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a view of the feed mechanism per se, similar to Fig. 2 but showing the parts in the position they occupy when the breech bolt did not go back far enough to let the new cartridge come up in front of the breech bolt and the breech bolt has been returned part way to its forward position by the breech bolt spring and shows the stop step E approaching the rear end of the cartridge.

Fig. 4 is a view in general like Fig. 3 but of a gun that is not provided with the stop step of this invention and so showing the double loading that occurs when the breech bolt does not go far enough back to allow the incoming cartridge to move up in front of the breech bolt, but where the continued forward movement of the breech bolt depresses the lifter to its down position so that another cartridge comes from the tubular magazine onto the lifter and below the cartridge already immediately below the breech bolt.

Fig. 5 is a right hand side elevation of the breech bolt and Fig. 6 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view of said breech bolt.

Fig. '7 is a view of said breech bolt as seen from below.

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the breech bolt.

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view of the breech bolt on line 9-9 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 10 is a right side elevation of the lifter of the feed mechanism.

Figs. 11 and 12 are respectively right hand side elevation and top or plan views of the magazine box.

Figs. 13 and 14 are right hand side elevation and top or plan views of the magazine box, the stop spring, the lifter and its spring assembled, with the lifter in a downward position.

Fig. 15 is a detail longitudinal sectional view on line I5--l 5 of Fig. 13 showing a cartridge held from horizontal longitudinal movement by the flange of the cartridge engaging the inturned walls at the front of the widened passageway and suggesting by dotted lines the stop step E on the breech bolt engaging the rear side of the cartridge at a higher level.

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of the stop spring 36.

Fig. 17 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of the feeding mechanism per se, showing mostly in central longitudinal sectional view a firearm embodying a modification of my invention, which modification is especially adapted for rimless cartridges, and the means engaging the nose of the bullet of the cartridge for stopping longitudinal movement of the cartridge until the proper time.

Referring to the drawings in a more particular-description it will, be seen that the firearm and of the blow-back form, that is, where the breech bolt is driven back directly by the gases of explosion from the cartridge in the barrel. Most combinations of this invention, however, are applicable to other forms of semi-automatic guns and also to full automatic and manually operated repeating arms and it will be understood that the illustration and description of my invention with a blow-back type of operation is is located the tubular magazine 24 with yieldingly. tensioned means therein for urging the cartridges towards the rear of the said magazine, such means commonly including a plunger 25 immediately contacting th nose of the most forward cartridge and with said plunger urged rearwardly by the usual helical spring 26.

There projects into the rear end of the tubular magazine the forwardly projecting tubular extension 21 of the magazine box 28. The magazine box that I have shown in this application follows in general form the magazine box of N. L. Brewer's Patent No. 2,094,577 and is conveniently formed of suitable sheet metal formed by suitable steps to produce the shape particularly shown in the side elevation thereof, Fig. 11, and in top or plan view thereof, Fig, 12. The said forward extension 2'! is of a diameter to receive therein a cartridge of the desired size in lengthwise position and to the rear of said extension the magazine box has a semi-circular part 29 into which extends the rearward part of the cartridge when the parts of the gun are in the position as shown in Fig, 2, that is the lifter 30 in upward position with its front curved edge forming a stop for the cartridge in the part 29 of said magazine. From the semi-circular part 29 the box is extended upwardly and to the rear of said part forming two main sides 3| and 32 at the right and left. hand of the gun. The upper portion of these sides 3| and 32 project upwardly through an opening in the lower wall of the receiver into the chamber of the receiver and form the passageway for the. pivoted lifter 30 to lift or carry the cartridges from the lower level of the magazine box upwardly into the chamber of the receiver more or less to the position of the cartridge denominated C in Fig. 2. Practically also the magazine box has formed integrally therewith two rearwardly extending arms 33 each having towards its rear end an illustrated is of the'semi-automatic type of ride aperture 36 and each also having at its upper rear edge outwardly curved ears which fit against the under surface of the receiver and are fastened thereto as by screws extending through suitable holes in said cars 35. These ears and the fit of the forwardly extending tubular extension 21 in the tubular magazine serve to hold the magazine box in position. The apertures M in arms 33 serve for supporting the lifter pin 31.

A separate plan view or right side elevation of this lifter is shown in Fig. 10. Roughly, the rear half of the lifter is in the form of a disk having at its center the pivot hole 38 whereby the rear end of said lifter by means of the lifter pin 3'! is pivotally mounted in the two rearward arms 33 of the magazine box and thus in effect the lifter is pivotally mounted with regard not only to th magazine box but to the receiver. The forward half of the lifter has its upper edge 39 function as the edge of the lifter which engages the lower side of the cartridge as seen in the second contact position in Fig. 1 by the cartridge B after this cartridge has been pushed rearwardly along through the bottom portion of the magazine box with the rim of said cartridge sliding along the said upper edge 39 of the lifter when the lifter is in depressed position as shown in said Fig. 1. A lifter spring 40 has its two separate coiled portions so formed as to place tension upon ,the lifter through the central portion 42 of said spring bearing against the rearwardly facing shoulder 43 of the lifter, while the rearwardly extending ends 44 of said spring are held in place by passing through apertures in the small ears 45 outwardly projecting from the rearward arms 33. This lifter spring is so proportioned in regard to the lifter and the magazine box that it tends to lift the forward end of the lifter particularly after the forward end of the lifter has been depressed to the downward position of said lifter as shown in Fig. 1.

Preferably the magazine box of this rifle is provided with a stop spring 46 of which a perspective view is shown in Fig. 16. As this stop spring is substantially like the similar part shown and described in detail in said Brewer Patent 2,094,577, it need not be described in detail here further than to say that said spring has two inwardly directed loops 4'! normally projecting through two oppositely disposed slots Miprovidedln thesides of the magazine box so that these loops will engage the upper portion of a cartridge in the position in said box of the cartridge B in Fig. 1 and yieldingly hold a cartridge in that position from upward movement simply from casual movement of the rifle and also from the upward urge imparted to the lifter by the lifter spring. Said inwardly projecting loops 41, however, will be cammed outwardly from their respective sides far enough to let the cartridge go up thereby when the forward end of the lifter receives a positive upward movement through said lifter being rotated on its pin by the positive movement of said lifter by the rearwardly directed, upwardly extending actuating arm 49 of said lifter being engaged by the cam 50 on the breech bolt. It will be seen from the side view of the stop spring 46 as shown in Fig. 13 that said stop spring has parts that engage the sides of the box and particularly an underlying loop 5| on said spring which loop goes below the semi-circular part 29 at the bottom of the magazine box so that said stop spring 46 is mounted by its own shape and its own resilience upon said magazine box with said loops ti urged inward through said slots 48 but adapted to yield outwardly partly through said slots when the cartridge is cammed upward therepast by positive movement of said lifter.

In-the gun in question the rear or main actuating arm 69 upon the lifter is engaged by the concavely curved surface of the rearward and main cam 50 of the breech bolt, so that rearward movement of the breech bolt positively raises the front portion of the lifter far-enough to force the cartridge upwardly through the cartridge stop spring or its equivalent. As the rearward travel of the breech bolt brings the last or forwardmost part of the cam 50 past the rearward arm Q9 and pastthe next forward and horizontal part 55 on the breech bolt, the cartridge has been pushed past the stop spring 48 and thereafter its last upward movement towards the position of the cartridge C in Fig. 2 will be accomplished by movement of said lifter under the tension of its lifter spring 40 and in some cases by the momentum already imparted to the lifter and cartridge.

This further counter-clockwise rotation of the lifter by its momentum and the tension of the lifter spring obviously moves the integral arm 49 down further from engagement with the breech bolt to the position of the lifter shown in Fig. 2 and meanwhile the breech bolt has moved further to the rear to the position' shown in Fig. 2.

It will be understood that upon the rearward movement of the breech bolt either by manual retraction thereof as for the first firing of the gun, but always upon rearward movement of the breech bolt from a firing of the gun, such rearward movement of the breech bolt will compress the breech bolt spring 36. The force of this breech bolt spring tends to urge the breech Bolt forward and when the proper time comes, the breech bolt will move forward engaging on its forward movement the rearward upper end of a cartridge and push it forward first disengaging it from the inturned upper edges of the portions 56 of the magazine box and from the ejector ear t and then as. the cartridge is free from those inturned edges to move upward, the spring-tensioned lifter will raise the cartridge further practically into line with the bore of the barrel and the forward moving breech bolt will carry the cartridge into its position in the bore of the barrel.

During this forward travel of the breech bolt the lifter has been swung down from its position above that shown in Fig. 2 to its downward position as shown in Fig. 1 by means of the camming engagement of a forward actuating arm 52 provided upon the disk portion of the lifter against the forward cam face 66 on said bottom of the breech bolt. Just prior to this camming action the arm 52 has cleared or passed below the long horizontal face 55; on the bottom of the breech bolt leading to the cam face 66. The cam face 66 is slanted or curved downwardly as it ex-' tends rearwardly so as to gradually rotate the lifter in a clockwise direction until it is brought to its downward position as shown in Fig. l and is held in that downward position by the last forward movement of the breech bolt. bringing the horizontal face 55 directly over and in contact with the upper end of the forward actuating or operating arm 52.

During the latter part of this clockwis rotation of the lifter the rear end of a cartridge has been pressing against the forward slightly curved edge of the lifter and as the lifter comes almost to its final downward position this forward edge of the lifter is moved beyond or below the cartridges rear end and said cartridge then under the tension of the tubular magazine spring moves to the rear and along the upper edge of the lifter proper substantially to the position shown by the cartridge denominated B in Fig. 1. This completes a full normal cycle of operation of the feed mechanism.

For manually operating the gun when desired and for an initial rearward motion when the gun is to be used as a semiautomatic gun there is provided a handle or knob (not shown) on the right hand projecting end of the crossbolt H0 transversely located about in the middle of the breech bolt 22 and projecting out through a suitable longitudinal slot in the right wall of the receiver The form of the gun shown in Figs. 1 to 3 has a spring-tensloned bumper 51, which improves the action of the gun but is not necessary insofar as my present invention is concerned. This spring-tensioned bumper is articulatingly located in a recess extending into the top of the barrel 20 near its rearward end with the rearward extension 58 projecting beyond the rear of the barrel, while the forward extension goes forward from said rear of the barrel and has a downturned ear 60 adapted to extend into a recess 6! formed in the opposite bottom portion of said top recess in the barrel. The rearward extension 58 is normally urged downwardly by a small coiled spring 62, the upper end of which is housed in a socket 63 extending into the upper wall of the receiver from its lower side.

As already intimated in the purpose clauses at the beginning of this specification, the semiautomatic firearm of the general type already herein described is in the main very satisfactory, but it has one serious difficulty in that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow the new cartridge to pass upward in front of the breech bolt, then the forwardly returning breech bolt passes over the said cartridge and keeps that cartridge below the breech bolt and the breech bolt, on completing its forward movement, depresses the lifter past its cartridge stopping position and allows another cartridge to come from the tubular magazine back into the magazine box above the lifter and below the breech bolt, resulting in a double loading of the action which, in this construction, causes a jam, and a stopping oi the action, in that neither one of the two cartridges can be eliminated from the action by anyordinary maneuvering of the action or its parts by the shooter.

The position of the parts in such a doubleloading is well illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings herein, which shows two cartridges in the magazine box above the lifter and below the forward part of the breech bolt. Of course in order to make a true illustration of such a double loading, the showing of the semi-automatic rifle used in the previous, Figs. 1 and 2, has necessarily been modified by leaving out the stop step E which is the gist of this present invention, for if the gun were equipped with the stop step of this invention, then the forward movement of the breech bolt would bring the parts to the position shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings herein.

As already intimated, the main purpose of this invention is to overcome this difficulty. This I accomplish by providing a stop step E in the form of a downwardly extending projection 67 on the central lower part of the breech bolt, which portion has a forwardly directed face or terminal constituting the stop step E already mentioned.

This downwardly extending projection 61 on the breech bolt shown in the drawings consists of two relatively thin wings 68-458 at the opposite side faces of the downwardly extending ridge at the center of the forward portion of the breech bolt, which ridge primarily provides the fiat portion 65 and the portion rearwardly thereof 66, which curves downwardly as it extends to the rear and forms the forward operating cam upon the breech bolt. The forward arm 52 projecting up from the disk portion of the lifter 30 engages this curved cam 66, but said arm 52 is thin enough to accurately travel in said curved cam 66 between the said wings 68.

As suggested by the comparison already made between a construction eliminating the stop step E as in Fig. 4 and the construction using this stop step as in Fig. 3, a forward movement of the breech bolt, assuming that an improper rearward movement of the breech bolt has been made for any of the causes herein above set forth in detail, involving either casual neglect by the shooter or a weak or defective cartridge, so that the breech bolt comes forwardly over instead of back of the incoming cartridge, then the forwardly facing stop step E will catch the upper portion of the flange at the back of said displaced cartridge as will be obvious from an inspection of said view Fig. 3, and said stop step will move the cartridge the slight distance forward necessary to bring the side portions of the flange of said cartridge into engagement with the rearwardly facing portion of the widened passageway 69, vertically arranged at the rearward part of the magazine box. This position of the parts and of the cartridge is very clearly shown in Fig. 15, from which it is obvious that the said rearwardly facing parts of the sides of the magazine box constituting this widened passageway 69 will prevent any further forward movement of the cartridge longitudinally of the gun and so in an obvious manner the rear face of the cartridge, being already engaged by the stop step, will prevent any further forward movement of the stop step and so of the breech bolt. This arresting of the forward movement of the breech bolt has the particularly desirable feature of preventing the breech bolt from going far enough forward to depress the lifter past its cartridge stop position, of which one position is shown in Fig. 2, so that another cartridge cannot move rearwardly from the tubular magazine to the space over the lifter and below the cartridge already in the magazine box below the breech bolt. The stopping of the breech bolt has a further advantageous but incidental operation in that it gives a sensory intimation to the shooter, if he is manually operating the gun, that the breech bolt has been prematurely stopped, that is that the complete cycle of firing has not been accomplished. In case' the gun is being used or is intended to be used as an automatically operating gun, the pulling of the trigger by the shooter will not produce a firing for the obvious reason that a cartridge has not been moved into the chamber of the barrel.

Assuming that a cartridge has not been raised to its desired position in front of the breech bolt but has remained below the breech bolt and has been engaged by the forward movement of the breech bolt carrying the said stop step E into engagement with the rear end of the cartridge, so stopping the breech bolt, the shooter is at once warned of the trouble but he can instantaneously remedy the trouble by at once moving the breech bolt rearwardly the proper distance to allow the cartridge to go up in front of the breech bolt and then be loaded into the chamber of the barrel on the return forward movement of the breech bolt. In this way the stop step operates to prevent a double loading and especially to prevent a jam of the action mechanism, and the shooter can immediately and without any special unusual action eliminate the cartridge from its breech bolt stopping position by himself moving the breech bolt back to rearward position and cause or allow that very cartridge to get into normal position in front of the breech bolt and, by continuing the normal cycle of operations in moving the breech bolt forward he is able to load that very cartridge ,7 into the chamber of the barrel.

It will be obvious from the foregoing explanation that my stop step is extremely useful and efficient and is a great improvement over a construction that allowed a double-loading and a jamming of the action that could only be straightened out by the laborious and unsual operation of unloading the whole tubular magazine including one cartridge from the magazine box.

Fig. 1'7 illustrates a modification of my invention, which is especially adapted for utilizing the invention where the gun is to use the so-called rimless cartridges, which would in practice be center fire cartridges, that is cartridges such as the cartridge denominated F in Fig. 17, where the rear part of the cartridge does not have a rim extending beyond the general diameter of the cartridge, although there is a reentering annular groove 10 which is forward of the rear end of the cartridge for the purpose of the extractor getting the necessary hold upon the cartridge, for withdrawing the cartridge from the barrel. Obviously such a rimless cartridge F cannot be held from longitudinal movement by the forward but rearwardly facing side of the widened passageway 69 particularly shown in Fig. 15.

For use with such a rimless cartridge I provide a construction, as shown in Fig. 17, where the front end or nose of the bullet of the cartridge H may readily engage the rearwardly directed vertical face 12, which is provided upon the front of the aperture at the bottom of the receiver and which face as shown in Fig. 17, extends in such a vertical line for a short distance upwardly along the rear end of the barrel 20 before coming to the forwardly slanting surface 13 ordinarily called the ramp. To accommodate the gun shown in Figs. 1 to 3 to the rimless and in practice center fire cartridge G, the barrel 2|] will have a slightly enlarged chamber 18 and the rearwardly facing shoulder I5 at the forward end of said chamber to engage the shoulder 16, at the front end of the shell of this cartridge, to stop the cartridge when it has come to the proper position in the barrel chamber. The gun will also have a center fire firing pin 11 to cooperate with the center fire cartridge. In practically all other respects this gun will be the same in construction as those shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and Figs. 6 to 16. Particularly the breech bolt will have on its lower side spaced a short distance back from the front end of the breech bolt, the downwardly extending cartridge below the lower level face 85 on the breech bolt forward of the forward lifter cam 86. and the parts will come then substantially to the position shown in Fig. 17 where'the stop step G is slightly to the'rear and in line with the upper part of the cartridge F, and with the nose of the cartridge almost engaging the vertical face 12 or very close thereto. It will now be obvious that on a slight further forward movement of the breech bolt the stop step G will come into engagement with the upper portion of the rear face of the rimless cartridge F and if said cartridge hasits nose slightly back from the vertical rearwardly directed face 12 the cartridge will be moved that slight distance and on the nose of the cartridge coming into actual engagement with said vertical face I2 the engagement of the rear end of the cartridge with the stop step G will prevent any further forward movement of the said stop step G and thereby the breech bolt of this gun will be arrested from further forward movement. Obviously thereafter this construction will then operate as explained in detail as to my preferred form, and the lifter 14 will not be moved downwardly from its cartridge stop position as shown in Fig. 17 and so the gun will be kept from doubleloading and jamming, and the rimless cartridge F can be readily removed from its position shown in Fig. 17 below the breech bolt by a regular and complete rearward movement of the breech bolt which will allow the cartridge, under the action of the lifter M, to be raised to its normal-position with the upper portion of its rear face slightly in front of the front of the breech bolt so, that a forward movement imparted to the cartridge will allow it to move up from the confining arms on the upper edges 56 of the two sides of the magazine box, after which the cartridge will be raised directly into line with the bore of the barrel 20 and then in an obvious manner will be loaded the full distance into the chamber of the said barrel.

What I claim as new and desire to patent is:

1. In a repeating firearm, the combination of a barrel, a tubular magazine therebelow with means therein for yieldingly urging cartridges rearwardly therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having in its bottom an aperture opening into its chamber, a magazine box in communication with the rear of the tubular magazine and extending upwardly into the receiver and forming an upright passage for conducting th cartridges upwardly in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, means adapted to provide an engagement between a part of a cartridge, and an adjacent part of the gun for limiting forward movement of the cartridge until the cartridge is raised to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge lifter mounted adjacent the magazine box with a portion adapted to move upwardly through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in raised position of the lifter to block the passage of cartridges from the tubular magazine onto the lifter in the magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and breech bolt for imparting a positive upward movement to the lifter on rearward movement of the breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge on said lifter past said movable stop means, means adapted to hold the lifter with a cargarners tridge thereon in the upper part of the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and the breech bolt on forward movement of the breech bolt for depressing the lifter out of car- 5 tridge-blocking position relative to the tubular magazine to permit a cartridge to come from said magazine onto the lifter, a downwardly extending andforwardly facing stop step on the bottom 9! the breech bolt spaced back from the 10 front end thereof at a point on the breech bolt which is substantially ahead of the rear end of the magazine box when the breech bolt is in forward position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move up partly in front of the breech bolt,

the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, said means for limiting the forward movement of the cartridge preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, said cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the lifter from being depressed and so will prevent the entrance over the lifter of an additional'cartridge.

2. In a repeating firearm, the combination of I a barrel, a tubular magazine therebelow with means therein for yieldingly urging cartridges a0 rearwardly therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having in its bottom an aperture opening into its chamber, a magazine box in communication with the rear of the tubular magazine and extending upwardly into 85 the receiver and forming an upright passage for conducting the cartridges upwardly in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, means adapted to provide an engagement between a part of a cartridge and an adjacent part of the gun for limiting forward movement of the cartridge until the cartridge is raised to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge lifter mounted adjacent the magazine lifter on rearward movement of the. breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge on said lifter past said movable stop means, means adapted to hold the lifter with a cartridge thereon in the upper part of the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and the breech bolt on forward movement of the breech bolt for depressing the lifter out of cartridge-blocking position relative to the tubular magazine to permit a cartridge to come from said magazine onto the lifter, a downwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the bottom of the breech bolt spaced back from thefront end thereof at a point on the breech bolt such that on forward movement of the breech bolt, said step will engage a cartridge left below the forward part of the breech bolt and held in the vertical zone of the magazine box by said means for limiting forward movement of a cartridge, before the lifterdepressing portion of the breech bolt has moved the cartridge-blocking portion of the lifter down from cartridge-blocking position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move to be partly in front will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the lifter from being depressed and so will prevent the entrance over the lifter of an additional cartridge.

3. In a repeating firearm for rim-fire cartridges, the combination of a barrel, a tubular magazine therebelow with means'therein for yieldingly urging cartridges rearwardly therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having in its bottom an aperture opening into its chamber, a magazine box in communication with the rear of the tubular magazine and extending upwardly into the receiver and forming an upright passage for conducting the cartridges upwardly in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, said magazine box having at its rear end but terminating down from its top a laterally extending widened passageway for the upward passage tnerethrough of the flanges at the rear of the cartridges and adapted to limit the forward movement of cartridges until the cartridges are raised to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge lifter mounted adjacent the magazine box with a portion adapted to move upwardly through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in raised position of the lifter to block the passage of the cartridges from the tubular magazine onto the lifter in the magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and breech bolt for imparting a positive upward movement to the lifter on rearward movement of the breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge on said lifter past said movable stop means, means adapted to hold the lifter with a cartridge thereon in the upper part of the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and the breech bolt for on the later part of the forward movement of the breech bolt, moving the lifter out of cartridge-blocking position relative to the tubular magazine to permit a cartridge to come from the said magazine onto the lifter, a downwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the bottom of the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof at a point on the breech bolt which is substantially ahead of the rear end of the magazine box when the breech bolt is in forward position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move up partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, the forward sides of said flange passageway in the magazine box preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, the cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent'the lifter from being depressed and so will prevent the entrance over the lifter of an additional cartridge.

4. In a repeating firearm for rimless cartridges, the combination of a barrel, a tubular magazine therebelow with means therein for yieldingly urging the cartridges rearwardly therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having in its bottom an aperture opening into its chamber, a substantially upright rearwardly facing surface at the forward end of said aperture and serving to prevent more than slight forward movement of the cartridge until the cartridge is raised to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a magazine box in communication with the rear of the tubular magazine and extending upwardly into the receiver and forming an upright" passage for conducting the cartridges upwardly in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge lifter mounted adjacent the magazine box with a portion adapted to move upwardly through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in raised position of the lifter to block the passage of cartridges from.

the tubular magazine onto the lifter in the magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and breech bolt for imparting a positive upward movement to the lifter on rearward movement of the breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge on said lifter past said movable stop means, means adapted to hold the lifter with a cartridge thereon the upper part of the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and the breech bolt on forward movement of the breech bolt for depressing the lifter out of cartridgeblocking position relative to the tubular maga zine to permit a cartridge to come from said magazine onto the lifter, a downwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the bottom of the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof at a point on the breech bolt which is substantially ahead of the rear end of the magazine box when the breech bolt is in forward position, so that ifthe breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move up partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring. said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, said means for limiting the forward movement of the cartridge preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, the cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the lifter from being depressed and so will prevent the entrance over the lifter of an additional cartridge.

5. In a repeating firearm for rim-fire cartridges, the combination of a barrel, a tubular magazine therebelow with means therein for yieldingly urging cartridges rearwardly therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having in its bottom an aperture opening into its chamber, a magazine box in communication with the rear of the tubular magazine and extending upwardly into the receiver and forming an upright passage for conducting the cartridges upwardly in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, said magazine box having at its rear end but terminating down from its top a laterally extending widened passageway for the upward passage thercthrough of the flanges at the rear of the cartridges and adapted to limit the forward movement of cartridges until the cartridges are raised to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge lifter mounted adjacent the magazine boxwith a portion adapted to move upwardly through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in raised position of the lifter to block the passage of cartridges from the tubu-.

lar magazine onto the lifter in the' magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and breech bolt for imparting a positive upward movement to the lifter on rearward movement of the breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge on said lifter past said movable stop means, means adapted to hold the lifter with a cartridge thereon in the upper part of the magazine box, means operatively connecting the lifter and the breech bolt for on the later part of the forward movement of the breech bolt, moving the lifter out of cartridge-blocking position relative to the tubular magazine to permit a cartridge to come from the said magazine onto the lifter, a downwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the bottom of the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof at a point on the breech bolt such that on forward movement of the breech bolt, said step will engage a cartridge left below the forward part of the breech bolt and held in the vertical zone of the magazine box by said means for preventing forward movement of a cartridge, before the lifter-depressing portion of the breech bolt has moved the cartridge-blocking portion of the lifter down from cartridge-blocking position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move up partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, the forward sides of said flange passageway in the magazine box preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, the cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the lifter from being depressed and so will prevent the entrance over the lifter of an additional cartridge.

6.111 a repeating firearm for rimless cartridges, the combination of a barrel, a tubular magazine therebelow with means therein for yieldingly urging the cartridges rearwardly therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having in its bottom an aperture opening into its chamber, a substantially upright rearwardly facing surface at the forward end of said aperture and serving to prevent more than, slight forward movement of the cartridge until the cartridge is raised to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a magazine box in communication with the rear of the tubular magazine and extending upwardly into the receiver and forming an upright passage for conducting the cartridges upwardly in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge lifter mounted adjacent the magazine box with a portion adapted to move upwardly through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in raised position of the lifter to block the passage of cartridges from the tubular magazine onto the lifter in the magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the magazine box, meansoperatively connecting the lifter and breech bolt for imparting a positive upward movement to the lifter on rearward movement of the breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge thereon in the upper part of the magazine box, means operativeiy connecting the lifter and the breech bolt on forward movement of the breech bolt for depressing the lifter out of cartridge-blocking position relative to the tubular magazine to permit a cartride to come from said magazine onto the lifter. a downwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the bottom of the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof at a point on the breech bolt such that on forward movement of the breech bolt, said step will engage a cartridge left below the forward part of the breech bolt and held in the vertical zone of the magazine box by said means for preventing forward movement of a cartridge, before the lifter-depressing portion of the breech bolt has moved the cartridge-blocking portion of the lifter down from cartridge-blocking position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move up partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, said means for limiting the forward movement of the cartridge preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, the cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the lifter from being depressed and so will prevent the entrance over the lifter of an additional cartridge.

7. In a repeating firearm, the combination of a barrel, a tubular magazine with means therein for yieldingly urging cartridges therefrom, a chambered receiver to the rear of the barrel and having an aperture opening into its chamber, a magazine box in communication with the tubular magazine and extending into the receiver and forming a passage for conducting the cartridges in a sidewise arrangement into the chamber of the receiver, means adapted to provide an engagement between a part of a cartridge and an adjacent part of the gun for limiting forward movement of the cartridge until the cartridge is moved to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, a breech bolt movably mounted in said receiver, means for moving the breech bolt, a movable cartridge carrier mounted adjacent the magazine box with a portion adapted to move through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in one position of the carrier to block the passage of cartridges from the tubular magazine onto the carrier in the magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the magazine box, means adapted to impart a movement to the carrier on rearward movement of the breech bolt thereby moving the cartridge on said carrier past said movable stop means, means adapted to hold the carrier with a cartridge thereon in a position adjacent the path of movement of the breech bolt, means operatively connecting the carrier and the breech bolt on forward movement of the breech bolt for moving the carrier out of cartridge-blocking position relative to the tubular magazine to permit a cartridge to come from said magazine onto the carrier, an outwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof at a point on the breech bolt such that on forward movement of the breech bolt, said step will engage a cartridge held in the zone of the magazine box adjacent the path of movement of the breech bolt by said means for limiting forward movement of a cartridge, before the carrier-moving portion of the breech bolt has moved the cartridge-blocking portion of the carrier from cartridge-blocking position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a new cartridge to move to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, said means for limiting the forward movement of the cartridge preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, said cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the carrier from being moved into non-blocking position as to an oncoming cartridge and so will prevent the entrance over the carrier of an additional cartridge.

8. In a repeating firearm, the combination of a barrel having a chamber at its rear end, a magazine with means therein for yieldingly urging cartridges therefrom, a magazine box containing a passage for conducting cartridges in a sidewise arrangement from said magazine to a position close to the rear of said barrel, a breech bolt movably mounted adjacent the rear of said barrel, means for moving said breech bolt, means adapted to provide an engagement between a part of a cartridge and an adJacent part of the gun for limiting forward movement of the cartridge until the cartridge is moved to a position partly in front of the forward end of the breech bolt, a movable cartridge carrier mounted adjacent the magazine box with a portion adapted to move through the magazine box and with a portion adapted in one position of the carrier to block passage of cartridges from the magazine onto the carrier in the magazine box, a movable stop means adapted to detain a cartridge part way through the passage in said magazine box, means for imparting movement to said carrier on rearward movement of said breech bolt, thereby moving the cartridge on said carrier past said movable stop means, means for holding said carrier with a cartridge thereon in the zone of the magazine box adjacent to the breech bolt, means operatively connecting the carrier and the breech bolt on forward movement of the breech bolt for moving the carrier out of cartridge blocking position relative to the magazine to permit a cartridge to come from said magazine onto the carrier in the magazine box below said movable stop means, an outwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof at a. point on the breech bolt such that on forward movement of the breech bolt said step will engage a cartridge held inthe magazine box adjacent to the breech bolt by said means for limiting forward movement of said cartridge before the carrier has been moved by the forward movement of the breech bolt to non-blocking position, so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow said cartridge to move to be partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, said means for limiting the forward movement of said cartridge preventing more than slight forward movement of said cartridge, said cartridge by its engagement with said stop step will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the carrier from being moved from cartridge-blocking position and so will prevent the entrance onto the carrier of an additional cartridge.

9. In a repeating firearm the combination of a barrel, a cartridge magazine with means therein for feeding the cartridge therefrom, a breech bolt movably mounted to the rear of said barrel, a magazine box adapted to guide cartridges in a side-by-side arrangement to a position close to the rear of said barrel and said magazine box having means for limiting the forward movement of a cartridge therein until said cartridge is moved to a position partly in front of said breech bolt, a movably mounted cartridge carrier adapted on substantially complete rearward movement of the breech bolt to move a cartridge through said magazine box to a position partly in front of the breech bolt, said carrier having a part which on rearward movement of the breech bolt blocks the passage of cartridges to the carrier from said magazine but which during the later portion of the forward movement of the breech bolt moves the said carrier from such cartridge-blocking position and allows a cartridge to come onto said carrier from the magazine, an outwardly extending and forwardly facing stop step on the exterior of the breech bolt spaced back from the front end thereof, at a point on the breech bolt such that on forward movement of the breech bolt, said step will engage a cartridge held in the magazine box adjacent the breech bolt and by said means for limiting forward movement of a cartridge, before the carrier-moving portion of the breech bolt has moved the cartridge-blocking portion of the carrier from cartridge-blocking position so that if the breech bolt fails to go back far enough to allow a cartridge to move to be partly in front of the breech bolt, the next forward movement of the breech bolt will bring said stop step into engagement with the rear end of said cartridge and, said means for limiting the forward movement of the cartridge preventing more than slight forward movement of the cartridge, said cartridge by its engagementwith said stop step will arrest further forward movement of the breech bolt and thereby prevent the carrier from being moved from cartridge blocking position and so will prevent the entrance onto the carrier of an additional cartridge.

FREDERIC S. WILCOX. 

